World Housing Encyclopedia
an EERI and IAEE project

Category: Colombia

Report # 175 : Reinforced Clay Brick Masonry Building

by Luis Carlos Hackmayer, Lars Abrahamczyk, Jochen Schwarz

This type of single-story housing is typically built in urban areas around the Country. Nowadays also multistory buildings up to 10 stories can be found with the same structural system and is generally used for residential purposes; however this report focuses on single-story buildings. This type of structure is in general earthquake resistant but the construction process should be somehow improved in terms of controls and checks. The vertical and horizontal loads are supported by the reinforced masonry walls. The vertical reinforcement bars are placed in the hollow cores of the clay masonry units and the horizontal reinforcement bars in between the horizontal bed joints of the units (the separation depends on the selected energy dissipation capacity).

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Report # 109 : Concrete Shear Wall Buildings

by Luis G. Mejia, Juan C. Ortiz R., Laura I. Osorio G.

These buildings are characterized mainly by cast-in-place, load-bearing, reinforced-concrete shear walls in both principal directions. The buildings are usually multiple housing units found in the major urban areas of Colombia, especially in the Andean and Caribbean regions. They represent about 2 to 3% of the housing stock in the cities with a population between one to seven million. These buildings typically have 7 to 20 stories, generally with a cast-in-place reinforced-concrete floor slab system. In general, these buildings have good seismic performance because of their regular mass distribution in height and symmetrical plan configuration and the great stiffness and strength of the walls that can restrict story drift to less than or equal to 0.005h. In some cases, if the buildings were constructed after the first Colombian Seismic Code in 1984, poor seismic detailing is found.

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Report # 12 : Clay brick/concrete block masonry walls with concrete floors (predating seismic codes or with a few seismic features)

by Luis G. Mejia

Typical multi-family housing construction found in urban areas of Colombia. It is a modern construction practice and represents approximately 50% of the housing stock for medium-rise (4- to 6-story high) buildings constructed in the last 25 years. This type of construction generally predates seismic codes; however, some buildings of this type were constructed after the first edition of the Colombian Seismic Code was issued in 1984. This type of construction can be found either on flat or on sloped terrain; vertical stiffness irregularity in the sloped terrain conditions may introduce additional unfavorable effects. Due to poor construction practices and poor detailing of the reinforcement, this construction is considered to be very vulnerable to earthquake effects.

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Report # 11 : Gravity Concrete Frame Buildings (Predating Seismic Codes)

by Luis G. Mejia

This is typical multi-family housing construction found in urban areas of Colombia that predates seismic codes. This housing type is widely used and represents 60% of the existing housing stock. At the present time, poor people occupy buildings of this type. This construction is rather vulnerable to seismic effects due to a limited amount of transverse reinforcement (ties); this is especially true for columns. This structural system is very flexible when subjected to lateral seismic loads. The quality of materials and workmanship is typically rather poor. In many cases, buildings of this type are constructed on a very steep terrain; soil condition is often rather poor.

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Report # 10 : Non-engineered Unreinforced Brick Masonry Building

by Luis G. Mejia

This type of housing is typically constructed in urban and rural areas in the interior of Colombia. This type of construction is especially widespread in the following provinces of the Andean region of Colombia: Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio, Tolima and Valle, where it constitutes approximately 60% of the housing stock. It is used exclusively as residential housing. This construction is very vulnerable to earthquake effects due to its brittle behavior. It has demonstrated poor seismic performance in several Colombian earthquakes.

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